La Chapelle Rhénane, Benoît Haller, La Maîtrise de Garçons de Colmar

France's Benoît Haller is a fairly rare example of a musician who is equally widely noted as a singer and as a conductor. Since 2001 he has been the conductor of the unique Baroque ensemble La Chapelle Rhénane. Haller was born in Strasbourg, France, in 1972. He began studying music there but then moved to the Musikhochschule Freiburg across the border in Germany, studying conducting with Hans Michael Beuerle. He graduated in 1996 with an honors diploma. Haller went on to take master classes with Frieder Bernius, Pierre Cao, and others. Parallel to this career he studied singing in the same places; his teacher in Strasbourg was Hélène Roth, and in Freiburg he worked with Hans Peter Müller, Gerd Heinz, and Beata Heuer-Christen. Haller made his operatic debut in Freiburg as Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte in 2000 and then in the title role in Britten's Albert Herring two years later. As a singer he has appeared mostly in Baroque opera and choral music; his interpretations of the Passions and cantatas of Bach are especially highly regarded. He toured with the top early music choirs Collegium Vocale Gent (under Philippe Herreweghe) and the Kammerchor Stuttgart (under Bernius), and began to imagine and develop a new Baroque ensemble that, unlike others on the scene that emphasized the exposure of little-known repertory, performed direct, humanistic versions of standard Baroque works aimed at broad audiences. Accordingly, in 2001, he founded La Chapelle Rhénane (The Rhenish Chapel); he remains its conductor. The ensemble has performed German and Italian Baroque works more often than French. La Chapelle Rhénane has recorded for the Christophorus, K. 617, and Zig Zag Territoires labels; among its recordings is an acclaimed version of Buxtehude's Membra Jesu nostri that was reissued in 2019. Haller's sister, Salomé Haller, is also a singer.
© James Manheim /TiVo